Halo: Incursion
by basti.santiago
Summary: The UNSC and Sangheilli Fleets are transported to a different timeline and must use all the assets in their powere to save the galaxy, and get back home
1. Chapter 1

THIS HAS BEEN UPDATED TO FIT DISCREPANCIES

I would like to say that I own nothing of Halo or Mass Effect, but all original content shall be mine.

November 7, 2561.

Bridge of the UNSC _Infinity_

As Admiral Lasky paced the bridge, a cup of coffee in his left hand and a datapad in the other, he then looked out into the vast expanse of space, and observed the fleet that escorted the Infinity to a random point in space for bi-monthly War Games with the Sangheili Naval Forces, under his command were two entire battle groups centred around two three thousand metre long UNSC carriers the _Columbus _and the _Cortez _accompanying them were six Marathon class cruisers and ten Autumn class cruisers, accompanied by twenty six Destroyers and thirty eight Frigates, but still a mere five percent of the UNSC's Naval strength minus support ships, there were also three Supply vessels with the fleet, all Kilometre long Demeter class Agricultural support vessels. Even though Lasky saw this gathering half a dozen times a year, he couldn't help but be impressed by the Navy's post-war strength, eighty six ships were under his command today, and he pondered what the Elite's were to bring along this time, he remembered the last time the Sangheili Fleets arrived, three CAS class Assault Carriers and thirty six CCS class cruisers, he got to know soon enough.

"Admiral, thirty slipspace ruptures are appearing three thousand kilometres away." Said Ensign Scott.

"thirty?" Lasky asked. "Well the Elites aren't stepping up their game"

Off the Infinity's bow appeared twenty nine slipspace ruptures, two of them produced five kilometre long CAS class carriers and twenty seven CCS class Cruisers.

"hang on a tick, i though you said-" Lasky was cut off as the twentieth ship appeared, bringing along the rest of the Elites' vessels, the entire bridge stopped all activity to get a look at the Elites' ship.

"Holy mother of God" Helmsman Albright said as he took off his HUD glasses and stared at the massive green vessel. It was a CSO class supercarrier, a few metres shy of twenty nine kilometres long, it was easily the biggest ship any human had seen, aside from High Charity, but that was more akin to a floating city than a warship, this thing could glass a planet a hundred times over with her seven Energy Projectors and thousands of pulse laser turrets.

"A...Admiral, we're being hailed by the ship." Ensign Scott said just as thirty CPV class Destroyers emerged from the gargantuan vessel and arrayed themselves in a formation opposite the now equalled Human vessels.

"Put it through." Lasky ordered, on one of the large screens on the bridge, the image of a tall elite in ceremonial gold armour appeared and gave a slight bow, beside him the newly appointed commander of the Sangheili Navy Fleetmaster R'tas Vadum bowed as well, his two missing mandibles easily visible, they were bathed in a dim purple light.

"Greetings Admiral Lasky, shall we commence the battle simulation?" Thel said in a confident voice, Lasky adjusted his collar and paused for several moments, before finally asking.

"New new toy you've got there Arbiter." Lasky said. "And it's safe to say that we'd lose the games."

"The _Servant of Justice_ is older than I am in all actuality, we just..._liberated _her from those...Brutes" Thel said.

"I take it that's Fleetmaster Vadum's new flagship?" Lasky asked.

"No, it is mine, R'tas chose to remain with the _Intent, _he has formed an...attachment to his vessel."

"correct, i shall not trade my vessel for a dozen supercarriers." R'tas included.

"Admirable trait i suppose" Lasky said.

"Sir!" their conversation was cut as one of the officers shouted.

"What?" Lasky asked, slightly annoyed.

"One of our scout vessels disappeared three light years away, and we've been called to mobilize there to investigate." The officer said.

"You heard it Arbiter, i'm afraid the games are suspended for today." Lasky said.

"Not to worry, we shall accompany you, call all ships and prepare for slipspace jump." Thel said. "we'll meet you there."

**TEN MINUTES LATER**

The entire joint fleet was spread out thin, searching for the corvette's last known coordinates, when the cruiser _Zeus' Thunder _found a weird artefact near a small rocky planet, within a half hour, the entire joint fleet, numbering more than a hundred vessels including the _Servant of Justice _carefully observed the lone UNSC Frigate slowly approaching the unknown object floating in the cold vacuum of space, it was long and angular. And was less than three hundred metres long with glowing green veins sprawled along it's structure. As the Frigate carefully edged the artefact. Alerts rang all along the bridge stations as Scott piped up. "Sir, that thing's giving off some freaky fluctuations, i suggest pulling back to a safe distance and sending in a drone instead."

"What do you think Roland?" Lasky asked the ship's bright yellow AI.

"I recommend Scott's form of action Admiral, much more bearable losing a small drone than a five hundred metre long heavy frigate." Roland said as his avatar materialized on a holo-table.

"Then we pull back, call back the fleet and signal the Elites to do the same." Lasky ordered. Shortly after, the Frigate was encased in a greed wave of energy and just, vanished, the wave then accelerated and engulfed several Elite ships and a dozen UNSC ships, prompting Lasky to shout at the helmsmen.

"Pull back Now!"

"That wave's too fast, it's too late sir!" Scott screamed as the entire fleet was encompassed by the wave, Lasky and the bridge crew were blinded by a white light and felt dizzy for what seemed like hours, he awoke to the screams of Commander Sarah Palmer, his long time friend and the commander of all the Spartans aboard the _Infinity, _his head was ringing and his lip was swollen and he tasted blood, he saw that several other bridge crew suffered the same injuries. He sighed heavily for a bit and finally spoke up.

"Roland, status?"

"Admiral, it isn't good, all reactors, weapons, scanners, you name it, it's offline" Roland answered as Lasky was helped up by Sarah, he then was handed a handkerchief by the Spartan IV and he wiped off the blood trickling down his head.

**Serpent Nebula, eighty thousand kilometres off the Citadel. 2186, several days after the Reaper attack on Earth.**

As Executor Hellenes paced the CIC of the Turian Dreadnought Dauntless that was part of the citadel security detail consisting of a hundred Turian ships, sixty belonging to the Asari and thirty each for the Salarians and Humans, he felt stressed at the fact that his fellow troops in the Turian Navy were dying in the thousands back at Palaven, and that his human allies were suffering even worse losses back at Earth, made worse by the news he heard from one of his crewmen,

"Sir, I'm reading over a hundred strange contacts, over half of which are larger than the Ascension!" the frightened Turian said.

"Larger? Impossible." Hellenes said. "Where?"

"Several hundred kilometres from the Mass Relay sir!" the Turian said.

He saw that the other two hundred vessels were arraying themselves in a defensive formation between the ships and the Citadel, they readied their mass accelerators to fire just in case these vessels were hostile. The _Dauntless _then aligned itself with the Asari Dreadnought Destiny Ascension and locked it's cannons on the gargantuan ship that was more than half the size of the Citadel.

"Officer, what's the length of these vessels?" Hellenes asked.

"i read one contact at twenty nine thousand metres, five contacts that are smaller but are at least three thousand metres long, several dozen at least a thousand metres long and several dozen more cruiser sized contacts." The officer said.

"May the spirits help us." Hellenes asked. In the radio, he heard an Asari Matriarch said. "Goddess guide us."

**UNSC Infinity Bridge.**

"Sir, i have great news." Roland said. "and some bad news."

"Good news first please." Lasky said.

"I'm happy to say that only minor casualties have been sustained across the fleet and the main reactors are online, along with weapons and shields." Roland happily said.

"What about the Arbiter and his behemoth of a flagship?" Lasky asked.

"All their vessels are coming back online as well, including the _Servant of Justice." _Roland said.

"and, the bad news?" Lasky finally asked.

"Two hundred unknown vessels have weapons locked, they're basically all MACs, but smaller than ours'"

"Very well, inform the Arbiter, let's meet the welcoming committee."


	2. Chapter 2

Very sorry for the long update time, had a bad case of LaptopScrewingMeOverTitis

Don't hesitate to review this, every honest review makes this better.

CHAPTER 2: Welcome Wagon...s

**Citadel Space, 2186, six days after attack on Earth.**

Executor Hellenes just stood there, still trying to believe how these mysterious vessels were able to get through the Citadel's long range scanners, and that these ships were colossally large, most of them were the size of Dreadnoughts, easily. The ships that disturbed him the most were three of the grey and blocky ships were longer than three thousand metres, with the longest one topping off at five thousand six hundred metres, next were those green ships which were far more elegant in appearance, they had the distinct appearance of those whales of the humans' home planet Hellenes thought. The three monstrous ships had a unique hook like bulbous section at their bows, but that wasn't what disturbed him, it was their sizes, the two smaller ones were a few hundred metres longer than five kilometres, and the most disturbing sight by far, was the vessel easily longer than half the citadel. _How many men will it take to crew that thing? _Hellenes thought.

"Sir, those vessels seem to be online and holding position" A Turian crewmember announced.

"Are they hailing us?" Hellenes asked.

"Not yet, but preliminary scans yielded something interesting" The crewman said.

"What did you get?" Hellenes asked.

"Sir, it seems their ships don't run on Element Zero" The Turian said.

"Are you certain?" Hellenes asked again.

"Yes sir, not one gram" the crewman said.

"Impossible, all ships run on eezo, space faring simply isn't possible without it!" Hellenes said.

"It seems they've found a way, Executor"

"Contact the councillors, they'll surely want to know about all this" Hellenes ordered.

**CIC of the SSV Elbrus, Citadel Space 2186.**

Fleet Admiral Romanov of the Systems Alliance's contingent for the Citadel Defence Fleet, was as baffled as everyone in the Fleet, the Turians said these ships didn't run on Element Zero, which was not possible considering no one in thousands of years has figured out a way to travel at faster-than-light speeds without the stuff.

"Admiral, I'm a little scared" said Lieutenant Smith.

"It is safe to say we all are" Romanov said. "Contact Executor Hellenes, tell him we want permission to initiate first Contact"

There was a brief pause, everyone waited in utter silence for the Executor's reply, they got confirmation and the Citadel Council's permission several seconds later.

"Alright, we're green, bring us forward fifty clicks, order the Angeles and the Guangzhou to follow us closely behind" Romanov ordered, the Dreadnought then moved ever closer to the Fleet of Dreadnoughts. They stopped soon after as they were the closest vessels to the unknowns.

"Send them a data packet with all of the Citadel's First Contact protocols" said Romanov.

"Sending them now Admiral….sent" said Ensign Hollis.

**Bridge of the UNSC Infinity.**

"Sir, that cruiser and its frigate buddies are getting closer" said Ensign Scott.

"Hold fire, maybe they want to initiate First Contact, let's see what they do next" Lasky said.

"Acknowledged sir, standing by" Scott said.

The bridge then cautiously waited, the fleet they had was impressive Lasky thought, and of different make of four distinct kinds, different species he theorized, this'd be interesting.

"Sir, they're sending us a data packet, it seems to be translation software, I'm running scans through it now, having Roland find any unpleasant surprises" Scott said, digitally sifting through the petabytes of data that was sent to their ship.

"Have the Software installed on everyone's neural laces, if they don't have laces, put the software on their Helmets, albeit a more basic version, our CH252's can only hold so much data on them" Lasky said.

"Sir, Roland was scanning the languages, we found Four species to be dominant of their ruling body, Asari, Salarian, Turian, and hold on to your trousers, human." Scott said, everyone on the bridge was shocked, but the only allies humans had in this Galaxy were the Sangheili.

"Run it again" Lasky said.

"It's accurate Admiral" Roland said as his Avatar of a World War II era fighter pilot appeared on a projector, his figure bathed in yellow light. "I ran approximately three thousand scans on that packet, there are humans here, in fact, the crewmen of the three ships that approached us are humans as well" the AI added.

"What? The Elites will also want a copy of this, send them one will you Roland"

Lasky asked. "Then they probably know English then, hail them when you're done."

"Right away Admiral" Roland said, his Avatar then went idle for a few moments before finally speaking. "We're being received, a line will be established in approximately seven seconds"

Lasky then fixed his hair and straightened his Uniform, anticipating contact with this new branch of Humanity. The screen went online, and the image of a man in his early fifties appeared, his uniform wasn't entirely different from the UNSC uniform, only his was Blue and Lasky's was a shade of grey. The embem on his cap was of a silver arch split in the middle with three stars underneath. He wore a very shocked look upon his face, Lasky only looked surprised, knowing several moments beforehand that they would be in contact with an unknown branch of Humanity. He saw no point in stalling, and got to the point.

"I am Fleet Admiral Thomas Tomas Lasky of the United Nations Space Command, and none of the vessels in my fleet have locked weapons on you, and I'd very much like it if your Fleet did the same."

Romanov stalled for a while, took in a heavy breath and started talking as well.

"I am Admiral Romanov of the Systems Alliance, I'm sorry but this is a multi-species fleet, and I only have command over my own ships, the Asari and Salarians will also likely back down as well, not sure about the Turians though, very militaristic those Turians, I'll relay the request now" Within moments of saying that, roughly half the fleet powered down their weapons and stood down, while the other half took another minute or so to cool down their weapon systems.

"I appreciate it, perhaps we can commence negotiations with the other species?" Lasky asked, his tone now light and friendly.

"Ah yes, I'll inform the council and have them and the Normandy here in under an hour." Romanov said.

"The _Normandy?" _Lasky asked.

"The most advanced ship in the Alliance Navy" Romanov said.

"Don't know how I'll feel negotiating a ceasefire in your most advanced warship" Lasky said.

"Oh no, we don't mean anything by it, it's just that the one commanding the ship is very decorated and has a knack for diplomacy" said Romanov.

"Oh, alright then, then we'll see you within the hour." Lasky said.

"Yes we shall" Romanov said, giving a slight nod before shutting off the video call.

"Alright, get the Arbiter on the line, let's see his reaction." Lasky then ordered.

"A line won't be necessary, a phantom is en route with him and Fleet-master R'tas" Roland said.

"Oh, alright, I'll just go to the forward hangar then." Lasky said. "The XO has the deck for now." Lasky then exited the bridge, followed by his security detail of two of the ship's best marines. He opted not to have Spartans as his Personal Detail because he though private security was not any Spartan's forte. He edged around corners, walked through doors and passed hallways on the way to the ship's forward hangar, roughly three hundred metres from the Bridge. He neared the last door just as it opened and he ran into his friend, Commander Sarah Palmer, head of S-deck and the boss of every Spartan on board.

"well Commander" She said "Come to say hi to the Arbiter and his boys?"

"That's right, go over to S-deck and have Blue team prepped for diplomatic detail" Lasky said. Palmer then nodded and gave a crisp salute, with Lasky returning it not a second later, the Phantom had already landed, but the Arbiter was being barred from proceeding further into the ship my an ODST.

"I'm sorry sir, but I was told if you didn't have a clearance card or the Admiral's say so, I can't let you pass through." The ODST said.

"I'll take it from here." Lasky said, tapping the ODST's shoulder.

The ODST then snapped a salute and said. "y…yes Admiral, I was just following orders"

"The Arbiter and anyone he brings long are exempt from that order alright?" he clarified.

"yes sir" The ODST said, before walking away.

"Your men follow orders too much Admiral" R'tas chuckled. "though Admirable that he stood his ground in the face of four Sangheili"

"Exactly Fleet-master, so i assume you're here with regards to the data we relayed?" Lasky crossed his arms.

"Indeed, are some of those ships really crewed by humans?" Thel asked.

"That is true, I just spoke to them, they seemed friendly enough, we're to meet them in under an hour you and I" Lasky said.

"hmm, very well" Thel said, just as Palmer arrived with the members of Blue Team, some of the few remaining Spartan II commandos. Thel recognized his old Companion the Master Chief, by the white "117" on his Mjolnir Mark VII Gen 2. They closed the distance in seconds, thanks to their massive strides that equalled a regular marine jogging.

"You called for us Admiral?" The Master Chief said in his trademarked low, deep voice.

"Yes, you and you team are slated to accompany us to one of their diplomatic vessels for negotiations" Lasky said.

"yes sir, tell us when you're ready to leave" said the Chief.

"We'll leave" Lasky said. "when you're ready"

"Sir, didn't anyone tell you, Spartans are always ready"

**Citadel, Presidium Commons, Huerta Memorial Hospital.**

Commander John Shepard was in one of the rooms, seated beside one of the gurneys that housed one of his most loyal teammates, Ashley Williams, who was nearly killed by a Cerberus Android on a Prothean Research site on Mars, Ash's head was nearly smashed in, and while the doctors said they got the swelling down, it'd take several days for her to regain full consciousness, he then slowly rose out of his seat before saying a few words.

"Ash, I don't know if you can hear me, but you're one of the strongest people I know, and you _Will _get through this" he then turned around and walked out the door, where he nearly the entirety of the people in the hospital's lounge were watching the events unfolding close to the citadel, an Asari reporter was speaking. "no one quite knows who or what appeared near the citadel several dozen minutes ago, but from preliminary scans, we can safely say that they are larger and more powerful than the Citadel Defence Fleet, the unknown ships appear to be at a standoff with the entire Citadel Defence Fleet, with several Systems Alliance vessels leading first contact.

"That is NOT good" Shepard said. as outside, he saw Mantis Gunships and Troop Shuttles zoom past the hospital and when he peered down into the commons, C-Sec had added nearly two dozen more guards.

"so not good" Shepard moved in a jog before his Omni-Tool started to flash and buzz, signalling an incoming call, he activated the wrist mounted gadget and out of it materialized a small holographic screen with the face of his Vessel's pilot, Joker on the other end.

"You seeing this Commander?" he asked.

"Seeing yes, believing is a whole other game" Shepard said.

"That's cool and all, but all Military personnel have been put on high alert, and we've been chosen as the Council's limo, and I'm the chauffeur, anyway they're on the way to the Normandy as we speak sir" Joker unsatisfyingly said.

"Alright, I'll meet them there, Shepard out" John said as he closed the Omni-tool and thumbed the elevator button for the Docking bay, he waited for several second for the lift to reach his floor, as it hissed open and he stepped in, he thought about who or what was in those ships the reporters were talking about. A few moments of corny elevator music passed, the Elevator opened and he was met by the sight of an attractive reporter trying to get a scoop from Ensign Copeland, one of the Normandy's crewmen, she immediately broke off and headed towards Shepard, he tried to veer off but was too late, his exceptional manners prevented him from leaving. "Diana Allers, Alliance News Network, I think we can help each other" She said.

"And how is that?" Shepard asked after a short sigh.

"Well as you already know, Alliance morale is at an all-time low since you know, Earth being invaded and all, but I have cracked a way on how to boost it monumentally" Allers confidently said.

"And how's that?" Shepard asked.

"If I follow the great tales of the heroic Commander Shepard and his marvellous exploits, news of Reaper defeat is gold these days, and you seem to be the biggest mine" Allers said.

"okay, what do you propose?" Shepard asked.

"I propose that I be embedded into the Normandy to follow you around while you go around with your exploits in the Reaper War" Allers said.

"Alright, nothing wrong about the Idea, I'll see you on my ship" Shepard said.

"how much equipment can I bring along?" Allers asked.

"One footlocker" was Shepard's swift reply, afterward Allers gave him a crisp salute and walked away, he then proceeded to the docking tube itself, where the Citadel council and their security detail were waiting, each councillor save for Udina had a pair of guards, Tevos, the Asari Councillor had with her two Asari Commandos, their slender figures hiding the true biotic potential that lay concealed beneath, Sparatus, the representative of the Turians was accompanied by two troopers from the Blackwatch, the Turian Army's most infamous special forces group, while Valern, the Salarian Councillor had an entourage of two agents from the STG or Special Tasks Group, whose information banks would give the FBI, CIA and NSA combined a run for their collective money.

"Okay" Shepard said, surprised at the large security detail. "are we set to leave?"

"That foolish Executor, letting the Humans initiate first contact, it should've been us, he made our fleet lower their mass accelerators, what if they'd attacked?" Sparatus scowled, in his usual antagonistic demeanour.

"Leave the First Contact to the race who won't go in guns blazing and blindfolded" Valern quipped.

Sparatus had nothing to say at that statement, he was right after all.

"I think we are all ready to leave" Tevos announced.

"Yes, let's just go" Sparatus said in a low voice of defeat.

"Shall We?" Shepard asked as the Normandy's main airlock opened, as the entire party stepped in, it was a little cramped inside the decontamination room, as they were bathed in a very fine watery mist that smelt faintly of isopropyl alcohol, they continued being sprayed for several more seconds before the hatch opened, them being met with an Alliance Marine in full Combat Dress, Assault Rifle in hand, he gave them a crisp salute and said.

"Good day, sirs, ma'am's, the Conference room's this way, if you'll follow me" He then got moving and slowly walked to a door slightly to the right and less than five metres away from com officer Samantha Traynor's post as he opened it, they were ushered into a room manned by two unarmoured marines manning the scanner on both ends.

"I'm afraid this is as far as weapons go" The marine said, handing his assault rifle to the closest marine and stepping through the scanner.

"Might as well" one of the Turians said, handing his Phaeston Rifle to the marine and stepping through.

Seeing as there were at least ten people In the room that'd have to walk through the scanner one by one, Shepard couldn't help but cross his arms, muttering. "Oh, this is going to take a while"

**UNSC Infinity, Forward Hangar bay.**

Admiral Thomas Lasky was not taking any chances on this one, instead of his Admiral's uniform, he opted for a set of matte metallic Grey ODST armour, it was only reserved for high ranking officers on the field, unlike the standard ODST Iteration, it had a power pack that sustained a moderate energy shield, while it didn't allow you to charge in like the Spartans or Sangheili, it could take a few blows to give you time to get in cover, most marines were getting this overhaul, save for some frontier divisions whose supply lines were shady thanks to the Kig-Yar pirates and Storm Covenant raids, he zipped the collar to his neck, coming up below his chin, he then took an earpiece, which held the translation codes for the different species, also coming with him was a small "fragment" of Roland, that had the history of humanity and the great war including the Flood, and enough memory to answer some ten thousand possible questions. Palmer walked in on him fastening the last Titanium A3 covered reinforced ceramic plate onto clasps located on his chest, they held firm with a satisfying click.

"A little paranoid are we?" Palmer chuckled.

"just a tad bit" Lasky said, putting a Velcro Admiral's patch on one of the shoulder plates.

"Don't worry too much, you've got four Spartans running security for you, remember?" Palmer said.

"Even the best warriors can fall to an Ambush" Lasky said, strapping a pistol in his thigh holster and slipping a combat knife into a sheath by his boot.

"from personal experience, Spartans aren't normal warriors" Palmer replied.

"If you say so Commander" Lasky said, exiting the Armoury to be greeted by a passing squad of actual ODSTs in Charcoal black armour. Their leader spoke up. "Come to join the party Admiral?"

"No Captain Buck, just taking precautionary measures." Lasky replied.

"Well, we'll see you later Admiral, you make Grey look good" Buck joked as his squad continued walking over to one of the simulation rooms. Lasky walked for a few more minutes, that hangar was pretty big, before reaching the Pelican slated to transport them, the rest of the team was already there, so was the Arbiter and R'tas, they didn't bring any security detail with them this time, they felt their combat skills were more than adequate to see them through an ambush, and they had four of Humanity's most infamous "demons", as they called the Spartans , Thel took a second look when he saw Lasky in Combat gear. To be honest, he looked surprised.

"Admiral, it seems that you look well in a combat harness" he said.

"Thanks Thel, to be honest, it's a bit…tight" Lasky said as he tapped his stomach plate.

"that is excellent!" R'tas exclaimed, "that means you make less noise when attacking"

"Alright then, shall we get started?" Lasky asked as the Pelican's hatch hissed open, the four Spartans went in first, occupying the four seats closest to the hatch, next was Thel and R'tas who occupied seats several feet away, respecting the personal space the Spartans favoured. Lasky was the last one to board, taking the seat closest to the Pilot's cabin, he then stood up, speaking in a commanding tone to his Spartans.

"Spartans!" he said, his voice loud and commanding, they all snapped into attention.

"I take it you've been briefed on the situation?" he asked, they all looked at each other, before the Chief broke the hiatus.

"Run a security detail Admiral, isn't that all?" Chief said.

"Yes, aren't you curious about the new species you'll meet" Lasky asked.

"We've been thoroughly briefed Admiral, no clarifications are required" Chief said.

"Alright then" Lasky said, sitting back down.

"Admiral" Thel said.

"I am curious about these Militaristic Turians, will we be having any problems?" he added.

"Well, they're standing down for now, but your fleet should be on alert just in case things get choppy" Lasky said.

"Very well" Thel replied.

"Admiral" said the lone marine crew chief. "We'll be docking in five minutes, you should phone the guests sir"

"good idea marine" Lasky said as he fished small touched his earpiece and called the Normandy.

"Uh, SSV Normandy do you read?" He started.

"Copy that, we read you Admiral" was the reply from one of the people from the Normandy, she was female, with the distinct hint of a commonwealth British Accent.

"Could you inform your ambassadors that we're on our way?" Lasky asked.

"Yes Admiral, I'll inform them immediately" the woman said.

"Thank you, Lasky out" he said before pressing a button to end the call, he then readjusted the collar as he felt a little asphyxiated by the suit's tight fit, he then brought out a small handkerchief and wiped off the tiny beads of sweat trickling down his forehead, even in the Pelican's chilly air conditioning, he was still sweating from anxiety.

"Cortana" He said, and from John's helmet, the voice of a Catherine Halsey spoke up.

"Yes Admiral?" She asked.

"I want you to run a simulation on their largest vessel's combat capabilities, then work your way down" Lasky ordered.

"Right away Admiral" she answered, she paused for a few seconds, doing countless calculations in her head in a mere five seconds of time. "Done"

"And?" Lasky asked.

"Their largest vessel, the _Destiny Ascension, _one of the Asari Dreadnoughts-

"that thing, a Dreadnought?" Thel interrupted "Our frigates are larger than this puny thing"

"Yes, but that thing is three times taller than it is long" Cortana said.

"Still nothing for the _Servant of Justice" _Thel replied.

"That may seem so, but she might be a nuisance to our cruisers" Cortana said. "The Turian Fleet present also has seven dreadnoughts present, the Asari and Salarians each have four, and the Humans are fielding a single dreadnought, also the shortest, at a little over a click long" she added.

"Alright, we target those first if things get real" Lasky said.

"Next, are the Cruisers, they register at five to six hundred metres long, there are at least a hundred and twenty Cruisers in their fleet, and to calculate, they're five times faster and more agile than our ships of that length" Cortana said.

"They'll be a problem for the MACs and Plasma Torpedoes, looks like they're our only real concern"

"And the rest are frigates as long as our Prowlers, they serve as support ships" She finally said. "I have run a full combat simulation. "Total destruction of their fleet will cost us four cruisers, eight destroyers and fifteen frigates, with the Arbiter losing three CCS class and five CPV class"

"Alright, just in case" Lasky said.

"Alright Admiral, pilot says he's got the Normandy in sight" The crew chief said.

"Alright, everyone get ready, Fred, Linda" Lasky said

"Yes Sir?" They simultaneously asked.

"You stay with the crew chief and guard the Pelican"

"Yes Sir" Fred said.

"Heads up Delegation, Arrival in thirty seconds" The pilot crackled through the Pelican's speakers.

The four Spartans stood up, cradling their respective weapons, John held tight his treasured Assault Rifle, Linda emulated this with her SRS-99 Kurz, German for Short, it's barrel was sixteen inches shorter and it sported a ten round magazine and a 4x scope, allowing it to be used for short to medium range fights as well as long range, Fred held an experimental M18 Archimedes Directed energy Rifle, which was essentially a small scale Spartan Laser intended for Infantry and light vehicle engagements, it was benchmarked to be able to bore through two inches of steel from two hundred metres, and it's battery was rated for thirty shots per charge, and Fred packed five extra batteries, Kelly was brandishing an M8, an evolved version of the weapon favoured by the ODSTs, it was also fifty per cent larger, with a bigger clip and stronger round, they braced themselves as the Pelican shuddered a bit as it aligned itself with the Normandy's docking tube, it's flexible edges wrapped around the Pelican's docking tube, any holes were filled by a substance that was air tight and dried quickly, as the door's vacuum light flashed green, the small hatch opened with a barely audible hiss, The Spartans were the first ones to step through the Tube, forming a two by two box formation once they entered the Normandy, the next to go through was the crew chief, who for his own safety brought along a Battle Rifle, Thel and R'tas then went through, and Finally Lasky, as they all entered, a synthesized voice chirped.

"Stand by, decontamination in progress" It said as they were showered in an extremely fine mist for about five seconds, after that, the door opened, and were greeted by a man in an Officer's uniform, he had very short hair and blue eyes, he, he had a fair complexion and a handsome face, almost didn't look like a soldier.

"He looked at Lasky for two seconds, then fixed his gaze upon the four extremely tall figures clad in Olive green armour, and stood at no less than seven feet tall, they each had numbers on their chest plates, the two at the front, male and female, sported "117" and "087" respectively, while the two at the back had "104" and "058", _were they robots Shepard thought. _But what got his curiosity the most were the two huge aliens next to Lasky, they stood only a few inches shy of eight feet and had four mandibles each, he then remembered going on an ancient vid marathon with Garrus a few years ago aboard the original Normandy and saw one called "predator", man did that vid freak him out, he wondered the entire movie how they ate their food, and that thought reappeared.

"Is there a problem?" Lasky asked.

"Oh no, just surprised by your security detail, I am Commander Shepard of the Alliance Navy, I welcome you aboard the SSV Normandy" Shepard said.

"Thank you, I am Admiral Thomas Lasky, should we get started?" Lasky asked.

"Right away Admiral, one question though" Shepard asked.

"Fire away Commander" Lasky replied.

"Are all your Soldiers that tall?" Shepard asked.

"No, just the Spartans" Lasky answered.

"Spartans? I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the term" Shepard asked.

"Super soldiers, genetically augmented, and they're wearing a few hundred kilos of Powered Armour" Lasky said.

"This might be a tight meeting." Shepard said.

"Why is that?" Lasky asked.

"Well, each of the councillors brought their own security detail so it will be a little cramped" Shepard explained.

"A necessary precaution I suppose, let's get moving then" Lasky said.

"Then if you'll follow me" Shepard said as he started moving.

"Change of plans, Linda, Fred, you come along as well" Lasky ordered, looking at the crew chief, he added. "Are you going to be okay by yourself marine?"

"Yes sir, don't you worry about me, got Darlene to keep me company" The marine said, implying that "Darlene"" was his weapon.

"Alright, let's get moving" Lasky said as he led the group, followed by John and Kelly, Thel and R'tas were guarded by Linda and Fred, as they passed the Normandy's dimly lit CIC, men and women took their eyes off their station to peer at their galaxy's new visitors, they didn't have problem digesting the thought about Lasky, what they had trouble comprehending were the massive Sangheili and the towering Spartans, whose heavy boots shook the deck as they took massive strides, as Shepard neared a door to the left of what looked like a lift, he stood in front of it for a split second as it immediately opened it, leading to a scanner guarded by two marines, on the table were several weapons of Unknown origin to Lasky and his Comrades, they looked like they'd been folded or something, like their parts were supposed to deploy into something bigger, Lasky tested this theory by picking up a small rectangular box the size of a cassette tape, as soon as he touched it, parts started moving and gears shifted as it formed the shape of a pistol similar to his magnum.

"Standard issue" Shepard said. "M-3 Predator" Lasky shook his head and unclasped his holster and brought out his M6H Magnum and placed it on the table along the M-3, it was fairly larger, he then bent down and took a combat knife from its sheath and placed It on the table with a nod to the marine, he then stepped through the scanner as it detected no Anomalies. The next one who stepped up was John, who without hesitation placed his Rifle and sidearm, he then stepped through the scanner, it chirped and a small LED flashed green, as he stepped through, Kelly then stepped through with no major fuss, but the Elites came next. Thel released a pair of intricately engraved Energy Swords from his hip magnets, he held them in front of the marine's face. "These are over eight hundred of your years old, should you touch them-

"Thel" Lasky said "Play nice, at least for now"

Thel grumbled and placed the dual swords down on the table, along with his Plasma Rifles, and stepped through the scanner, nearly hitting his head, R'tas was slightly hesitant as well, but didn't make any menacing threats, they had scared enough people for the day, the last to step through were Fred and Linda, the latter of which had trouble parting with her Rifle.

**SSV Normandy, Conference room.**

"Councillors, I've just received word, the delegation is in the other room, going through security check" The marine said.

As the Councillors heard this, they told their guards to wait outside the conference room to give the delegation some space, the Turians began to chat up the Asari commandos when the first of the delegation came in, in the form of Admiral Lasky and the two Sangheili representatives stepped in, everyone was shocked at the stature of the two Sangheili, just shy of eight feet tall, they towered over everyone in the room, and even gave the Black-Watch operatives a scare, he observed each of the security detail, and frightening the Salarians even more, and even managing to get the Asari commandos a little cautious and for once make them doubt their abilities in combat, but the by far most surprised were the councillors themselves, though Valern was a little bit more curious than terrified, Lasky was the first one to enter the room with the councillors, he extended his hand. "I am Admiral Tomas Lasky of the United Nations Space Command, it's nice to finally meet you all in person" he said, returning handshakes from Udina, Tevos, Valern and reluctantly, Sparatus. But the Sangheili only gave nods before speaking. "I, am Thel Vadam, leader of the Sangheili Empire and ally of the UNSC" He said, he then backed up, giving way to R'tas, his missing mandibles clearly visible under the pleasantly bright white light. "And I am Imperial Admiral R'tas Vadum, Commanding Officer of His Excellency's Naval Forces"

They all paused for a bit, before Tevos spoke up. "I, am councillor Tevos of the Asari Republics, it's nice to meet you, please, these are my colleagues, Velern, Sparatus and Donnel Udina" Tevos said as she motioned her hand to the representatives of the Salarians, Turian and the Humans respectively. They all took their seats.

"You look a little frontline Admiral, are you expecting trouble?" asked Udina.

"This was just a safety precaution, better have it and not need it that need it, and not have it" Lasky said.

"A wise quote, Admiral, I think you and I, will get along just fine" Councillor Valern said.

"That's nice I suppose" Lasky said, nodding at Valern with a small smile

"But you didn't bring a security detail, doesn't that compromise your statement" Councillor Sparatus said, slightly less antagonistic for now.

"Who says I didn't?" Lasky said as he put a finger on his earpiece. "Blue Team, you're cleared to enter." As the door hissed open, everybody except Lasky and the Sangheili were taken aback at the sight of the massive armoured behemoths that stepped in, Lasky just put on a small smile, the four Spartans walked in and separated into two groups, with John and Kelly entering the Conference room and Fred and Linda taking a position next to the Turian guards.

"You brought mechs?" Udina asked.

"They're not mechanized sir, they're Spartans, super soldiers" Shepard clarified.

"Do you only draft soldiers that tall?" Tevos said, still in disbelief.

"No, they've been genetically augmented with ceramic reinforced bone grafts" Lasky said, looking at John, who lowered his head.

"That's unnatural" Udina said.

"It was necessary, to win the war" Lasky announced, voice low.

"Indeed, sacrifices must be made" Sparatus added.

"so let's get started, what's our current situation?" Shepard asked.

"Alright should I start with how this happened from our side?" Lasky asked.

"Sure, get started whenever you want" Shepard said, assuming his own seat.

"Alright, I'd like you all to say hello to Roland" Lasky said as he took a small Projector strapped to his leg pocket and placed it on the centre of the table, he turned it on and an Avatar of a World War II era fighter pilot appeared bathed in a bright yellow light.

"I'll just jump right in, At- Roland barely got those words out before Councillor Valern spoke up.

"Is that an Artificial Intelligence?"

"Yes why?" Lasky plainly replied.

"They are illegal here, we can't have an AI in this day and age, not after what happened to the Quarians" Tevos said.

"Why what happened?" Lasky asked.

"The Quarians three centuries ago" Udina said "created an army of synthetic AI robots called the Geth to fulfil their basic needs, they programmed the geth to be smarter in large groups"

"And they made too many" Thel finished Udina's statement.

"Exactly, the result, seventeen million Quarians now live aboard a massive Fleet of over fifty thousand vessels, some dating back to the original exodus three hundred years ago" Sparatus finished.

"Well, that's unfortunate, but we have to be excused, we didn't even know of such a law" Lasky said.

"Exactly, let's let their AI continue" Shepard said.

"Very well, go on" Tevos said.

"Thank you, at 0800 hours Earth time, the 7th of November, 2561, the UNSC and Sangheili were about to-

"Wait a minute, you're from 2561?" Sparatus asked.

"Yes, why do you ask? Roland asked.

"Our current year today is 2186" Udina said, looking at his watch.

"But we came from the 2600's, how's that even possible?" Lasky asked.

"Well Admiral, that artefact could've taken us anywhere" Roland said.

"Yeah, probably" Lasky said.

"Wait, are you saying an artefact got you here?" asked Shepard.

"Yes, let Roland explain, it'll all be quite clear after this" nodded Lasky.

"On the seventh of November, 2561, the UNSC Navy and Sangheili Imperial Naval Armada were about to commence their bi-monthly War Games, but several minutes after their fleets gathered, a UNSC patrol corvette went missing, so the entire fleet mobilized to look for the Patrol vessel"

"Why devote an entire fleet with more than a hundred ships to look for a simple patrol ship?" Valern asked.

"Well, the corvette disappeared only a few light-years away, we saw no harm in having all the vessels look" Lasky said.

"Fair enough" replied Shepard.

"Alright then, I'll continue, several minutes after we arrived, the cruiser _UNSC Zeus' Thunder _found a strange artefact that was close to the patrol vessels most recent sensor ping, soon after the entire fleet converged to observe the artefact, it emitted a very strong energy pulse that that engulfed the entire fleet and transported us here" Roland finished.

"So where are you from?" Shepard asked.

"Earth" Lasky announced, and the entire council widened their eyes, looking at each other, they were whispering among themselves, Shepard stood up.

"But, we also come from Earth, our humans are from Earth, and so are you, how's this even possible?" Shepard asked with a curious look on his face.

"What the, Roland, could you please shed some light on the situation?" Lasky ordered.

"Even I don't know Admiral, though I have one theory." Roland plainly said.

"Alright, let's hear it" Lasky ordered, a hand under his chin.

"Alright, are you all aware of the multiverse theory?" Roland asked. He received nods from all of the people present in the room, and the undivided attention from the ones outside the room.

"Well by my calculations, as of several hours ago, it is no longer a theory" Roland announced.

"My God" Lasky said.

"By the Spirits!" Sparatus exclaimed.

"This event should be studied! What did the artefact look like?" Valern rushed, obviously excited at the notion, his years in the STG still drilled at him daily.

"The artifice was predominantly a light shade of grey, with green lights running along the structure" Lasky said as Roland brought up a holographic scale model.

"Goddess, It is Prothean!" Tevos said.

"Prothean, who are they?" Lasky inquired.

"They were an advanced civilization that was wiped out by the Reapers roughly fifty thousand years ago" Sparatus said.

"Sounds familiar doesn't it?" Lasky asked the Sangheili.

"How so?" Tevos asked.

"Our Galaxy had one civilization that stood out from the rest, the Forerunners, they were forced to fire the Halo array to save the Galaxy from the Flood" Roland said, materializing a hologram of the Didact, with a UNSC marine beside him for scale.

"They're massive, and what's the Halo array?" Shepard asked.

"They are massive ring shaped installations placed around the Galaxy that are essentially Weapons of Mass Destruction built on a Galactic scale" Lasky said.

"Are they Nuclear in nature?" Valern asked, carefully observing the Halo's hologram.

"No, they are much, much worse, when all Installations are fired, they are capable of wiping out all sentient life in the Galaxy" Lasky said, everyone in the room froze, and Sparatus' two side mandibles clicked, looking at Lasky.

"But the Forerunners had a backup plan, they built Artificial Shield Worlds impervious to the Halo installation's firing, but they also built a massive installation outside the Galaxy in deep space safe from the halos aptly named the Ark, they had hundreds of ships go to each planet that held sentient life, took several thousand samples of each species and brought them to the Ark, but alas, the Forerunners were too late to save themselves, so they sacrificed themselves to give the Galaxy a second chance."

"This is all quite a lot to take in" Shepard said.

"Yes, it is" Lasky said.

The marine then came in and interrupted the conversation.

"Councillor Sparatus sir?"

"Yes?" Sparatus replied.

"News from Palaven, I'm sorry to say the Turian fleet lost forty more vessels the past three hours, five of them were Dreadnoughts sir" The marine replied. Sparatus shook his head in disbelief. "Spirits help us" He sighed, obviously distraught.

"What's Palaven?" Lasky asked.

"Our home planet, its being besieged by the Reapers" Shepard said.

"The ones who wiped out the Protheans?" asked Lasky.

"The very same, they took Earth a few days ago, along with decimating the Alliance Fleets" Shepard said.

"I'm sorry to hear that, as much as we all want to go home, I'm afraid we can't leave you like this" Lasky said.

"What do you mean?" Shepard asked.

"Well, we went through a war close to what you're going through" Lasky said.

"I see, and?" Shepard was curiously asking.

"And we feel the need to help you through this." Lasky said.

"Wait, you'd do that?" asked the Turian Councillor.

"After what Humanity went through in the Great War, we can't bear the thought of it happening to another species, much less our own, we're ready to help in any way we can, just give us the word and we can depart, how far away is Palaven? Lasky confidently asked.

"less than twenty thousand LY away, just a few seconds through the Relays" Shepard said.

"Uh, Relays?" Lasky asked.

"Right, our Galaxy is built up around the use of Mass Relays, giant installations that accelerate a ship's speed to negotiate great distances in mere seconds" Tevos said.

"What a marvel of Technology, did you construct these?" R'tas asked.

"I'm afraid not, even after centuries of meticulous study by the Asari and Salarians, we still don't know who or what made the relays, but they're easy enough to use so we don't bother locking them down" Sparatus said.

"Could you tell us how to use them? That distance would take us a little more than a week, but a few seconds sounds so much better" Lasky said.

"Wait, are you telling us you can traverse thousands of light years in a single day? How?" Valern asked.

"I'm afraid that's above even my pay grade so I don't know, what I do know is that the _Infinity uses _salvaged Forerunner engines, the rest of our fleet uses reverse engineered ones that aren't as fast but get the job done in more or less a few hours slower" Lasky said.

"We also received reports that your FTL drives don't run on Element Zero" Tevos said.

"I'm afraid I don't know what Element Zero is so definitely not" Lasky crossed his arms.

"Very interesting, may he have one of your FTL drives for extensive study?" Valern said.

"Under the current circumstances I can't, but if one of our ships is heavily damaged, I can have the Slipspace Drive disconnected and delivered to you, or if you find the missing corvette, you can return the crew to us and claim the Drive" Lasky said.

"Very well, I accept this proposition" Valern said, extending his hand, it was received by Lasky.

"Alright, we need to discuss something to help us stop the war, wasn't Doctor T'Soni supposed to show us something, in the Background Fred removed his helmet and clipped it to his belt, when he looked around, he received a wink from one of the commandos, She turned to look at Kelly for advice, she in turn just shrugged, forcing Fred to nod at the commando in reply, to which she just smiled.

"Lover boy" Kelly joked.

"Yes, she was" Shepard said as he called Samantha, the ship's com officer.

"Sam, could you call up Liara and bring her up, we'll be discussing what she found in the Mars Archives" Shepard said.

"Right away Commander" She said in her posh British accent.

"We also need to discuss how to deploy the Citadel Forces" Valern said.

"Primarch Fedorian was to hold a War Summit to do exactly that, but he is trapped on Palaven or its moon" Sparatus said.

"Well I can take the Normandy to retrieve the Primarch" Shepard said.

"That is noble sentiment, but we'll also need some reinforcements for Palaven" Sparatus said.

"Perhaps we can help" Lasky said.

"You would, do that?" Sparatus asked, puzzled.

"As long as we haven't found a way to get back to our Universe, we're stuck here, and with a war going on, we can't just wait around, at least we could help, I'll take the Infinity and one of the Carrier Groups, what about you Thel?" Lasky stated.

"I shall send the _Servant of Justice" _He said.

"Really? Thank you!" Sparatus exclaimed. "When can you depart?" he added.

"We can leave within the hour, but you still haven't told us how the Relays are used" Lasky said.

"Very simple actually, you just manoeuvre your vessel close to the Relay and it does the rest" Shepard said.

"Really, can it transport the _Servant?" _Lasky asked, referring to the Sangheli vessel longer than the Mass Relay itself.

"It's possible, though there's only one way to find out" Tevos said. Liara then came through the door and was met by the Back of Fred, who turned around and swiftly moved out of the way.

"Thank you" Liara said as she moved past Fred and took a seat beside Shepard, She then fished out a projector out of her pocket and placed on the table after activating it, it then projected a hologram of a massive Gourd shaped object that was very large in size, considering there was an Alliance Dreadnought placed next to it for scale"

"That thing's massive, what is it?" Lasky said, Liara giving him a curious look.

"Ah right, Fleet Admiral Lasky of the United Nation Space Command" Lasky nodded.

"United…What?" She asked, puzzled even more.

"I'll explain later, for now, explain what you found" Shepard said.

"Very well, what we found on the Prothean Archives seem to be a Weapon of some kind, massive In size and scope and capable of unquantifiable levels of destruction, from the schematics, it pulse when fired is supposed to piggyback of the Mass Relays to engulf the entire Galaxy" Liara said.

"Well it didn't work, the Protheans would still be alive otherwise" Udina said.

"No, the reason the Protheans went extinct was not because the weapon didn't work properly, they were missing a valuable component called only as the Catalyst" Liara then proceeded to add.

"So do you know the location of this Component?" Tevos asked.

"I's sorry to say I do not" Liara said, hampering everyone's mood.

"As soon as we find this Catalyst, we must resort to conventional means of stopping the Reapers, hence the War Summit" Valern said.

Oh, I see, thank you for your time then" Liara said as she took her projector and left the room.

"How about you Commander, when can you depart for Palaven Commander?" Sparatus said.

"As soon as you leave the Normandy, I'll make preparations to depart within the hour" Shepard said.

"What about help for Earth, She's taking the brunt of the Reaper attack!" Udina said.

"The exact reason why we are convening the War Summit Councillor Udina" Valern said to the Human councillor, who just scoffed.

"Then it's settled, Admiral Lasky and our new allies will take forces to lift some pressure of Palaven's Navy and retrieve the Primarch, afterwards we shall convene a summit, is all Understood?" Tevos asked.

"We'll leave within the hour, we'll also send data packets with our history and the history of the Sangheili" Lasky said.

"Much appreciated, we'll do the same, EDI get on it" Shepard said.

"Right away, Shepard" Said the computerized voice of the Normandy's AI,

"Is that an AI?" Valern asked.

"Not at all, it's just the Normandy's VI" Shepard said, lying.

"Oh, then very well, goodbye, we will be in contact soon" Valern said as he left the Conference room, his two Guards flanking him as he left the room altogether, Same went for the every other council member. Only Shepard, Lasky and the two Sangheli remained.

"So, how many ships will you send to assist Palaven?" Shepard asked.

"We can send one whole carrier group, more or less forty vessels, along with the Infinity and the _Servant of justice," _Lasky said.

"Will they be staying in Palaven until the War ends?" Shepard questioned.

"Oh no, we'll just help until you retrieve the Primarch, then leave a small force of seven ships to help the Turians" Lasky said.

"All help _IS _welcome" Shepard said.

"Alright then, we'll return to our ships and make the preparations necessary to depart" Lasky rose and nodded to Shepard, followed by Blue Team and the Sangheili. When they got to the airlock, they found the crew chief, seated and apparently dozing off.

"Wake up Marine" Lasky said, softly kicking the marine in the shin.

"Five more minutes mom" The Marine said before waking up immediately and falling into attention. "Sorry Admiral! I got bored"

"I don't blame you, now everyone get aboard, Blue team first" Lasky ordered as the Spartans entered the tube and made their way to the Pelican, the Sangheili were next, Lasky followed through and the Crew Chief came in last to seal the hatch. Lasky then got on his opened the pilot's cabin of the Pelican and spoke to the Pilot personally.

"Let's go, tell them we're leaving now" he said.

"Yes Sir." The Pilot confirmed, he then switched frequencies and called the Normandy.

"SSV Normandy this is Victor 419, we're casting off, thanks for having us over" He reported.

"Confirmed Victor 419, releasing docking tube now, you're cleared to depart" said a male voice.

The Pelican then turned around and started for the UNSC and Sangheili Fleet, which had since relaxed their formation and was now more loose and spread out. Lasky then took a seat next to Thel, giving a long sigh and loosening his collar.

"Well that went nicely didn't it?" Lasky asked.

"Yes, very productive indeed" Thel stated.

"When this is all over I need a day off" Lasky sighed, he then took a water canteen out of his pocket, unscrewed the cap and took a long and satisfying gulp, he then offered it to Thel, who took it thanks and downed a gulp as well, although he just let it fall to his throat considering he couldn't sip.

"Roland?" asked Lasky, looking at the Pelican's deck projector.

"Aye Admiral?" asked the _Infinity's _resident AI.

"Contact the Commander of the _Columbus _please" requested Lasky, within a few seconds the image of a man in his late fifties appeared, with a short beard forming on his face and a set of glasses, yes Rear Admiral Banks looked funny indeed, but it came to no joke in a combat situation when in a skirmish against Covenant Remnant in deep space armed with only a destroyer and three Frigates, he was able to outflank and destroy two CCS class Cruisers and twelve CRS class light cruisers in five minutes, the subsequent promotion landed him command of the UNSC _Columbus, _a carrier completed in 2559 and was the UNSC Navy's newest Carrier.

"Hello Admiral Lasky, how may my vessel be of service?" He said in quite a cheery voice.

"I need you and your Carrier group ready for departure within the hour" Lasky said.

"Aye Admiral, but where are we going?" Banks asked.

"We've been drafted into another Galactic War and they need our help" Lasky stated. Banks look confused for a bit, bobbing his eyes here and there before he made a decision.

"Send us the coordinates and we'll depart as soon as all ships are able"

"Not necessary, we'll be passing through one of their Mass Relays" Lasky said, expecting Banks to understand what he said.

"I'm afraid don't know what you're talking about" Banks replied.

"Fair enough, they are installations used to hurl ships through space at an incredibly fast speed to make a journey that'd take days on our Slipspace drives and dial them down to seconds" Lasky stated.

"Amazing, did these Aliens you meet make them?" Banks asked, fascinated.

"I'm afraid even they don't know" Lasky said.

"Oh, so are they like, safe Admiral because I'm a little concerned" Banks asked.

"They've been using them for centuries so I assume they are safe enough" Lasky said.

"Alright then, a superior's confidence is all the confidence I need, I'll notify you when we are ready to depart." Banks said, ending the call.

"Tell the _Cortez _and her battle group to stay put when we leave, they'll have all the Sangheili fleet for company when we leave" Lasky requested.

"Yes Sir, sending a message now" Roland said.

"This is going to be, interesting" Lasky said.

**SSV Normandy, Shuttle Bay/Armoury-Fifteen minutes later**

Shepard was with James, Liara were gearing up for the retrieval mission on Palaven, Shepard was a soldier, and armed himself as such, he put fragmentation grenades in poches along his armour, and along with nearly a two dozen thermal clips for all of his weapons, an M8 Avenger Assault Rifle, an M3 Predator and a Shuriken Machine Pistol, James and Liara were getting their own things ready while their shuttle pilot Steve Cortez was getting the UT47 Kodiak shuttle ready for their task at hand, Lasky then took his helmet, an Alliance Marine Corps Standard Issue with an air filter that deploys automatically when it the wearer asks for it, it was Menae after all, a moon with a likely thin atmosphere. Liara was near the requisition station, reading a profile of the Attack on Palaven.

"Goddess" Liara said.

"Why, how bad is it?" James asked.

"Casualty reports are,, staggering" she distraughtly muttered.

"What are their figures?" Shepard asked.

"The Turian Army has lost tens of thousands while their navy has lost close to countless ships" Liara managed.

"Then the sooner we get to Palaven, the sooner we can wake up from this nightmare" James assured.

"That's something we can all agree on" Shepard nodded.

"And those new friends we made should put a major dent in our Reaper buddies" Cortez said from far away, installing a new armour plate on the shuttle after James dented it crashing into a Cerberus Shuttle.

"With their Flagship, they'll put more than a dent" Shepard said.

"What I want to see in action is what the Sangheili brought, what they called a Super Carrier" Liara said.

"Don't know if that'll get through the Relay though, it's longer than the damn thing" James muttered.

"No EEZO though, that's pretty amazing" Shepard said.

"But no Relays either" James added.

"That is a downside" Cortez said.

"EDI, have you run scans on their ships? What kind of Weapon Systems they have?" Shepard asked.

"Every ship they possess has an AI on board, I could not risk our new found truce" EDI said.

"Are you telling me every ship in their Fleet has an AI while you're the only one aboard any Warship in the Fleet?" Shepard asked.

"That would seem so, Shepard" EDI flatly replied.

Their ship classes are crazy too" Cortez said.

"Our Corvettes are the size of their fighters, our Frigates are the size of their Corvettes, our Cruisers are their Frigates and even our Dreadnoughts are just Cruisers to these people, and their Carriers are a lot bigger than ours" Cortez said.

"Everyone has different standards I suppose" Liara added.

"They also seem to rely on strong shields and armour paired with Brute Force, from the appearance of the UNSC vessels, they have numerous point defence guns with a bore of fifty to seventy millimetres, hundreds of missiles and large scale Mass Accelerator Cannons" EDI said.

"They also use bullets, crazy" James said.

"Yeah, the only time a saw bullets were at museums" Cortez said, replacing several wires that were ripped or didn't conduct anymore.

"They use bullets? The Asari haven't used those in centuries" Liara said.

"I know, humans haven't used them in close to fifty" Shepard said.

They were having a good discussion, it was running well for a few good minutes until a call came in for Joker. It was a good one at the very least.

"Hey Commander I got good news" The Normandy's helmsman said.

"Great, let's hear it" Shepard said.

"From the looks of it, the UNSC fleet is ready to move toward the Relay, they're orienting most their ships to face it, same for that twenty nine kilometre beast those Sangheili brought along, not sure if that thing will even work with the Relay" Joker said.

"Good, that means we can get the mission done faster, could you patch me through to Admiral Lasky?"

**UNSC Infinity, Bridge.**

"How's the _Columbus_ and her battle group" Lasky asked.

"Admiral Banks reports all of the ships under his command are ready to depart, and so is ours" Roland chirped.

"Good, do another check on the weapon systems, do another diagnostic on the new Super MAC the Navy had installed a few weeks ago, we haven't actually tested it" Lasky said.

Interesting overhaul the Infinity had, in June of 2561, the UNSC Navy had the ship's two forward Series 8 Magnetic Accelerator Cannons and had them replaced with a single Mark V Super MAC, like the one mounted on the ODPs on Earth, but this one drew power directly from a Fusion reactor also installed to Power just the Super MAC itself, with the reactor it could fire a 3,000 ton Ferric Tungsten slug at 12,000 kilometres per second, producing nearly forty seven Giga-tons of TNT in force, it could do this every ten seconds, which would be very unpleasant for anyone who like their ships intact during a fight, and that was just one of the Infinity's weapon systems, not to mention its two flank MACs, two forward Energy Projectors, hundreds of 70mm Point Defence Guns, and thousands upon thousands of Missiles.

"I have a feeling we'll get to test it soon enough Admiral" Roland replied.

"Yes, yes we will, what about the Arbiter? Is his ship ready?" Lasky then asked.

"It is Admiral, his Ship's moving in position as we speak" happily announced Roland.

"That's good then, the sooner we- Lasky said as his Personal Communicator beeped and buzzed, he answered it quickly starting with a quick hello.

"Admiral, its Commander Shepard, are your forces ready to move out?" The Commander asked.

"Yes they are, we're ready to depart immediately" Shepard said.

"Excellent, I'll start ordering my ships into position" Lasky said.

"Yes Admiral, I'll get the Normandy moving as well" Shepard finished, ending the call.

"Alright, let's get this show on the road, patch me through to Battle-Group Cortez please" Lasky said.

"Right away Admiral" Roland said, several moments passed before Admiral Banks' face appeared on a view-screen, his bearded face as funny as ever.

"Yes, Admiral?" He asked.

"We're moving, get your carrier group close to the Mass Relay now" Lasky said.

"What about the _Cortez _and her fleet?" Banks steadily questioned.

"They'll be staying for now, along with most of the Sangheili ships" Lasky asked.

"Alright then, how many ships will the Arbiter bring along?" Banks inquired.

"He'll bring along his Flagship and nothing else" Lasky said.

"Fair enough, that thing's got the power of an entire fleet I reckon" Banks said.

"Yes, his ship should be more than adequate, if he can fit it through the relay" Lasky said.

"Yes, that Supercarrier is a monster, it'll do well against these Reapers I read about in the data packet they sent over" Banks said.

"Alright, we'll coordinate Fleet actions later, Lasky out" He said as he cut the Com and the screen went back to its normal display of the UNSC emblem. Outside the large view port he could see half the UNSC Fleet he brought along, in the distance he could see the UNSC _Columbus _start her propulsion systems and start for the Mass Relay that led to the Apien Crest, the home system of Palaven, he could also see the rest of her carrier group start theor engines as well and follow closely behind, in the distance several Kilometres away, he could see the obvious mass that was the _Servant Of Justice _move ever closer to the Relay, with her massive size, you'd expect the ship to be extremely sluggish, but no. The Ship was as fast as one of their smaller CCS classes, fast enough to keep up with the rest of the fleet, it took about five minutes for the Fleet of ships to reach the edge of the relay to amass, in front of the _Infinity _was the Normandy, ready to show the UNSC and Sangheili how to utilize the Mass Relay, the council had lent a small Turian Frigate as well to assist in showing them how to exactly utilize the Relay, as the tiny Frigate moved ever closer to the Relay, it then positioned itself a few hundred metres behind the relay, it then gunned its drive core and quickly sped to the Relay, it was then met by a streak of blue electricity as it was wrapped in a bright blue aura, as it reached the giant revolving centre of the Relay itself, it shot forth in a bright blue lance faster than they all could've imagined.

"See Admiral, simple" Shepard said over a radio.

"Let's try it with one of our vessels, order the _Liberty or Death _forward, tell the captain to do what the small ship did" Lasky ordered. Soon enough the Captain of the Marathon Class Cruiser had the ship surge forward and align itself with the read of the relay, it then accelerated as it too was wrapped in a blue Aura and was shot forth at an astonishing speed in a bright blue lance of energy, it was now assured, their vessels could use the mass relays, now came the biggest question of all, literally. As the _Servant of Justice _itself moved behind the Mass Relay, her very tip already ahead of the rearmost part of the relay.

"This is the Arbiter" Thel's low voice boomed. "Here we go" The gargantuan vessel then surged forward, as it's front already passed the relay, it too was then fully encompassed in a bright blue aura and was shot forward in a massive blue beam larger than the relay itself.

"That's good enough, ever vessel in the group, advance and go through the relay, we have a galactic war to curb!' Lasky beamed as his vessel started to move into position.

_Here we go. _Lasky thought.


End file.
